As for an operating system, I had Vista Ultimate 32-bit running for a month, then I decided to switch to Vista Ultimate 64-bit, since now my new hardware supports it, and I have 4GBs of RAM I'd like to fully allocate. I installed it, and got blue screens every time at boot, I believe it was the 0x0000007E one. Whatever it was, research led me to believe that it was a RAM problem.

In the BIOS, from the beginning I had manually set my timings to the correct ones, since "OPTIMAL" was picking them up wrong (as it always seems to on all 680i boards I've played with). According to OCZ, my timings should be 5-4-4-15 (CAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS), running at 2.1V. These settings worked fine for Vista 32. memtest86+ doesn't seem to find problems either after 1 pass.

I set all the timings back to OPTIMAL (detected as 6-6-6-18), and the voltage to AUTO (detected as 1.850) as well. Vista 64 now works fine (I've been running it for about 3 weeks straight now, and just moved up to SP1 no problem), BSoD free. Again, memtest86+ doesn't find errors after 1 pass.

(Interestingly, at work I was configuring a system with an ASUS Striker Extreme 680i board, Corsair Dominator PC2-6400 RAM, and had the opposite problem. The memory timings and voltage HAD to be set manually for Vista 64 not to BSoD. Auto timings and auto voltage caused BSoDs non-stop.)

So, is there any way I can get my system running with the correct timings/voltage, or should I just accept it the way it is? I know the performance difference is so miniscule, but I'd still like to run it at factory timings. Any ideas, or is it a known issue that Vista 64 is picky about timings? Or did I get a bad batch of my cheap RAM?

Like he said it because the voltage was set to "Auto" and the ram isnt getting enough Volts that its causign BSOD 6-6-6-18 isnt even JEDEC standard... and your undervolting your ram to 1.85.

its simple to fix, first goto in the memory/cpu section in bios, goto memory settings/timings make it 4-4-4-12 then goto into your voltage section and change the memory from auto to 2.1v it should cure it if it doesnt then the ram is something different you didnt speifically state what kind because there is ALOT OF DDR2 800mhz with many different timings and voltages, but my suggestion should work if its the kind i think it is.

@ Xazax: That's the first thing I tried, running it with the timings and voltage manually set. It worked great in Vista 32, but not at all in Vista 64. I did specify the exact model number of my RAM in my original post (OCZ2P8004GK), and I've placed a link to the manufacturer's website above.

I'll be sure to post back here with my results, in case anyone else comes across this issue.

Well hmm that quite strange because i run 64bit adn there shouldnt be a difference between the two using the same memory.

Have you tried any other memory modules and have them boot at posted specs?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't have any other DDR2 modules to test with... I may have to borrow some from work.

My only guess as to why there was a difference when I installed 64-bit is that the extra strain on the RAM being allocated/used created errors at higher-performance settings. That's just a guess though, my knowledge with 64-bit OSs is limited, I'm just getting into it.

I set the BIOS back to auto, specifically FSB Memory Clock mode to [AUTO], all memory timings back to [AUTO] (6-6-6-18), and Memory Voltage to [AUTO] (1.850V). I re-ran memtest86+, no errors found after a single pass.

I suppose it is reasonable to say I've got a bad batch of RAM here, my next step is to do some individual module testing.

Yes, that RAM looks fantastic... I just found it at a retailer shipping to Canada (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26564). I've contacted OCZ, and am waiting for a response during business hours. I wonder if OCZ will let me trade up... return my current RAM, grab that stuff, and pay the difference... I kinda rushed into buying this RAM, since it was about $70 at the time, and seemed decent...

I just wanted to add that OCZ's customer service is amazing. I contacted them with my problems, and the same day a resolution was created... I sent them my old RAM, 2 days later, brand new OCZ Reaper 4-4-4-15 @ 2V RAM showed up at my door, in exchange for my cheap RAM and troubles.

I installed the new RAM, set the timings properly, ran memtest86+ 2.01, and no errors found. Problem solved. Thanks OCZ!